The Art of Life
by Rabytte
Summary: Little bits and pieces of what-could-have-beens and what-ifs concerning Hinata Hyuga, including but not limited to falling for the wrong boys and waiting too long for the right ones. Mostly unrelated drabbles set in different AUs, various pairings but Hinata-centric
1. Political Drabbles

This is a little corner of my world where I'll be dumping Hinata-centric fics (mainly ItaHina, mostly AU). It'll be sporadically updated as little ideas come to me.

I think it's pretty obvious that I don't own Naruto. You probably don't need me to say that, right?

And yes, I know ItaHina will never be cannon, especially now that NaruHina is properly established, but dreamers can always dream.

Hinata and Itachi's world here is based off a mix of the Naruto-verse and a modern universe where Parliament or whatever is replaced by the Political Court and Naruto still gets his dream of becoming Hokage. The Advisor roles sub for Ministers or whatever they are in your country. The Byakugan and Sharingan are the names of the companies of the Hyuga and Uchiha respectively.

* * *

><p>It's a crisp Winter day when Itachi finally proposes. The morning sun is just peeping through the greying clouds and Hinata's wrapped in mittens, scarf and a heavy duffle coat. It's a silent but unanimous agreement between the long-suffering couple that Itachi will not get on one knee on the cold, icy grass and that as proud as Hinata is of her pretty engagement ring, she's still going to put her mittens back on.<p>

They share a shy kiss and buy hot chocolate and coffee before trudging to the Political Court and breaking the news to their political party.

Or rather, parties. And therein lies the awkwardness. Naruto's understandably distraught when he learns his adored and very important Defence Advisor-ess is leaving him to get married even though the whole world (including Hinata) has been waiting for this day for months, but he's downright furious when he learns that Hinata Hyuga is getting hitched to the opposition's Vice Leader.

"Ex-Vice Leader," Hinata patiently reminds her Hokage. "He's talking to Nagato now about handing in a letter of resignation. We're both giving a month's notice so we won't campaign for seats during the elections."

"But Hinata," Naruto whines, his eyes sky-blue and his face balefully cute. But Hinata's not the stuttering little girl she once was. She's the soon-to-be-ex-Defence Advisor, the woman who had held her own against the opposition for almost an entire hour while Naruto had rushed off to find missing evidence to pass the most controversial idea the Political Court had ever seen. As such, she doesn't cave to Naruto's baby blues and instead sends her one-time crush a frown. "Why can't you stay? I need you for the elections! I need you by my side! You're my Defence Advisor, how am I supposed to replace you in one month or at all? And since when were you dating Itachi Uchiha?!"

"Before I even joined the Political Court. I'm sorry, Naruto," Hinata says firmly. "I don't want any talk of us or the opposition being compromised with my engagement to Itachi. Our dating was already controversial enough, whether or not you were aware of it, which you were, Naruto. Stop pretending you don't know Itachi."

"But they won't care," Naruto says earnestly, completely ignoring Hinata's last sentence. One of the reasons why Naruto is so successful in the Political Court is his ability to tune out things he doesn't want to here and zone in on the things that only he cares about. "I'll tell them not to. Everyone likes you anyway. They won't mind."

"And there's also the fact that Itachi and I want something different," Hinata says. She sighs at Naruto's half bewildered, half horrified face, and continues on gently. "All of us entered the Political Court a little too early, I think, and none of us ever stopped to think about what we were actually doing. The fun's worn off, Naruto. Cut-throat politics isn't what Itachi and I want to be doing for the rest of our lives."

There's nothing Naruto can say to that. Hinata and Itachi are the most peaceful and honest politicians the world has probably ever seen, and as successful as they are, politics really doesn't agree with their personalities. Naruto settles for whining a few more minutes to her, extracts the promise from her that she'll always be his defence advisor, just not his Defence Advisor, then lets her go to talk to her cousin.

Neji looks at her as though she's insane, then as though he wants to murder Itachi, then his faces falls comically resigned. "He's not as bad as Naruto could have been for you," Neji says kindly. "He sure took a long time to propose. You look more relieved than surprised, Lady Hinata."

Hinata squeaks in denial, but Neji's right. Itachi and Hinata discussed marriage ages ago; the responsibilities and consequences far too large not to. They'd chosen the engagement rings some weeks ago and the only element of surprise in the entire affair is the proposal, and it's so Itachi to choose a snowing day for the deed.

Neji pulls Hinata's mittens off in his warm office and inspects the ring as shrewdly as any jealous girl. "He's not stingy, at least."

"He's Uchiha," Hinata says, but there's a bright smile on her face that she couldn't drop even if she wanted to. Neji nods and gives her a quick hug.

"Does that mean you're going to be giving Byakugan to Lady Hanabi?" Neji breathes into Hinata's ear.

Hinata laughs. "The company and clan were always going to go to Hanabi," she says. "Don't pretend you didn't know any better."

Neji releases Hinata and takes a step back, a frown on his face. "What are you two going to do? Neither of you have any qualifications for anything other than politics and running businesses. If you're both quitting your jobs and disinheriting yourselves, how will you survive?"

Hinata smiles gently at her worried cousin. "We'll survive, Brother. You should know us better."

Neji makes a childish face. "How?"

"We can run a new business," Hinata says optimistically. "We can get normal jobs. We've both got enough saved to even travel for a few years together. To get away from our families." She pauses as she registers what she's saying. "I mean, clan. Clan. Itachi and I love our cousins and siblings and parents - I mean, he loves his family and I love you and… What?"

Neji's smiling now, a peaceful, adoring smile. "Don't worry," he says. Then he scowls and looks in the vague direction of the opposition offices; a glare that's directed at Itachi. "If you ever need anything, you know where to find Tenten and I."

"Of course," Hinata says. "Thank you, Neji." She means it, of course. She's grateful to her cousin for sticking by her, for helping her through all these years and being her strongest ally against her own family and the rest of the world. Neji's smile just turns slightly crooked and embarrassed, and Hinata thinks for a split second that she can see her cute little cousin from all those years ago - the little boy who had enthusiastically showed Hinata all his toys and who had shyly given her a bunch of flowers.

Then the phone rings and ruins the moment. Neji mouths an apology and Hinata just shakes it off as she watches her cousin talk on the phone to a young diplomat who's allegedly in a bathroom and crying that the trade talks are not going well at all. Neji's all clipped tones and cold quips to the girl; she's his protégé and Neji's not at all appreciative of the fact that the girl he'd trained so hard is failing the first task already. Hinata quietly excuses herself from Neji's office when it's clear that he's going to have to go through every single detail of the dream trade deal.

She walks over to her own office and finds that her own news has preceded her. Her inbox is flooded with emails from well-wishers and her phone and mobile filled with missed calls and cheeky texts. Hinata calls her father with shaky hands. Hiashi is stern, dark and unamused, but he says something that Hinata thinks might mean that he maybe approves of Itachi and says goodbye to him with tears in her eyes. Hanabi's much more frank and tells Hinata in no uncertain terms that she wants a niece.

"Not a nephew," Hanabi clarifies with embarrassing seriousness. "I don't like boys. They're too arrogant."

"Um, I… I'll see," Hinata says meekly, thinking internally that this is far too early in the morning and is Hanabi serious? She is, obviously. She takes a gulp of coffee.

"When's the wedding?" Hanabi demands. "I'm only free in ten Saturdays for the rest of the year. Do you want an Autumn wedding next year? I'll have more free time then."

Hinata chokes on her coffee and thinks miserably that Hanabi's priorities are clearly backwards. If she's correct, Hanabi will be asking about the ring and proposal next. "I don't know, Hana. He only asked two hours ago."

"Hmph. How was it? I hope it was fabulous and everything you deserved and dreamed of," Hanabi says in such a manner that Hinata's scared that a wrong word will have Hanabi storming over to murder Itachi and restart the clan wars.

Still, Hinata basks in the fact that she was right; that Hanabi's asking about the proposal last when most girls would ask about that first. "It was nice," Hinata says honestly.

"Flowers?"

"No," Hinata says. She pauses. "I wouldn't have anywhere to put them and I hardly want to carry them around on the train."

Hanabi practically radiates disapproval through the phone. "Was it a nice place? Tell me it wasn't in the park."

"I won't, then."

"In the gardens, at least?" Hanabi practically hisses.

"We would be late to work if we had to walk that far," Hinata begins. "And we're both practical. We didn't want any fanfare and this morning was the only time we'd have without the world watching us for weeks. The elections are coming up after all."

"Yes, well, the whole world is writing about you," Hanabi says with a knowing tone. "There're more news articles up than there should be media networks."

"What?" Hinata chokes again, slamming her cup onto her desk. Her assistant sends her a worried look and pointedly takes the cup away from her. "How? When?!"

"Come on, Hinata," Hanabi says. "You're both practically celebrities and you can tell that half the articles are pre-prepared."

"But… but… how?"

"You're both high profile business heirs and members of the royal and political courts," Hanabi says matter-of-factly. "And you're right, the elections are coming up. After Uzumaki, Haruno, Nara and Neji, you're the highest ranked politician in the country and your betrothed is the opposition's Vice Leader. I think people will notice if the two of you are walking hand in hand in a park during a snowstorm, never mind if the Lord Itachi Uchiha is proposing to the Lady Hinata Hyuga!"

"But!" Hinata exclaims eloquently. "It wasn't a snowstorm. It only snowed a little this morning in Konoha. I woke you up this morning so you could see it. And… he's… he didn't… there wasn't any kneeling or anything!"

"Rings are pretty obvious," Hanabi says, a smirk in her voice. "We've taken down all the pictures, but the articles we've allowed are rather sweet about it all. Quite flattering, sister."

Hinata just splutters in resigned exasperation. Of course the Byakugan and Sharingan would get involved. "Thank you, Hana."

"You're welcome," Hanabi says. "In fact, if you want me to sue th-"

"Not necessary, Hana."

"I had to try," Hanabi says cheerfully. "I'll interrogate you properly over dinner. You're having dinner at home, right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Hinata asks, bewildered.

"Nothing," Hanabi says brightly, and Hinata's suddenly worried. "I'll see you tonight then. I've gotta go, Konoha's calling."

The city or the boy? Hinata shrugs and puts her phone down. Instantly, the Hokage's Advisors for Conservation and Agriculture are barrelling through her door (in Shino Aburame's case, walking coolly in).

"I just heard the news!" Kiba says. "Uchiha finally proposed! Lemme see the ring!"

Hinata holds her hand out, rolling her eyes as Kiba prods and frowns. Even Shino pulls Hinata's hand up to inspect it and the three of them chatter nostalgically about their primary school days and the fact that Kiba probably would have gotten married years ago if only he had the guts to just propose.

"Hey!" Kiba says indignantly. "She's totally fine with not being married!"

"Of course, Kiba," Shino says, sending Kiba a pitying look. "I-"

Just like Neji, they are cut off by their phones. They pull them out with the urgency of men in their late twenties and frown at their screens. As one they smile apologetically at Hinata.

"Then, uh, trade talks," Kiba says uselessly, and Hinata cringes at Kiba's inability to make a believable excuse. "They fell, and the… plants. Yeah. They…"

"The issue of the plants that were meant for the Conservation and Agriculture offices from Suna weren't addressed," Shino elaborates with a sigh. "Therefore, Kiba and I have to attend to our offices. I apologize, Hinata, but we must go. Still, congratulations and felicitations on your engagement."

"Yeah," Kiba says, ever the eloquent politician. "What he said."

Hinata smiles, nods and sees her childhood friends out. She's barely taken a seat when the door swings open and in strides Shisui Uchiha. Hinata blanches and leaps to her feet and her traitorous assistant squeaks in terror and makes a run for it.

"Shisui," Hinata says, eyes darting, teeth flashing. Shisui smiles minutely back. "How can I help you?"

"I'm not sure," Shisui says conversationally and Hinata shudders. If the Akatsuki had only employed this deceptively low-ranking politician to be their Leader, perhaps they would have stood a chance. "Maybe if you call off all your colleagues who are currently harassing my cousin? It would be greatly appreciated."

Hinata pales as she thinks of Naruto's 'giving up', of Neji's 'call', of Kiba and Shino's pathetic plants that they couldn't possibly need, not from Suna anyway. "O-Oh," Hinata says, rushed and embarrassed. "Of course. I'm so sorry."

"Not a problem," Shisui beams. "It's not every day the darlings of the country get married. How are you, Hinata? I'm surprised you're even here. It was quite insensitive of Itachi to propose first thing in the morning."

Hinata smiles. "He wouldn't be Itachi if he didn't."

Shisui laughs. "C'mon, cousin-in-law-to-be. I'll escort you to Itachi's office and hold back the media and the crazed politicians, Hyuga and Uchiha alike."

Hinata holds back a whimper. She's already having second thoughts about marriage to Itachi - she can already imagine the warring Political Court and clans and business tycoons at their wedding. Suddenly, the idea of eloping to Yu or Kiri doesn't sound too bad. She allows herself to be led to Itachi's office, though. Her heart begins to thud and suddenly all the nervousness and elation and pure happiness comes back to her, never mind the fact that Itachi should have proposed ages ago. She beams at Shisui, who laughs, patting her head.

"You're adorable," he tells her. "If Itachi hadn't claimed you back when you two were kids, I'd have snapped you up myself."

Hinata's mind blanks. "What?"

Shisui's mouth just quirks and he opens the door to Itachi's office. Sure enough, what seems like the entire political court is crammed in Itachi's office. Naruto's yelling at Nagato and Neji's just standing by, smirking at Sasuke. Konan's trying to ask everyone to leave so that Itachi can actually file in his resignation while Deidara and Ino appear to be having a shouting match. In the midst of all the chaos and noise, Itachi's sitting at his desk, rubbing his temples and eyes closed.

Then his eyes snap open and settles on Hinata. It's always been joked that he knows where she is at any moment. Anyone would think it stalkerish if not for the fact that Itachi's sense of Hinata has become so intuitive and protective that it's sweet.

Itachi's face instantly brightens with relief, and there's such love expressed that Hinata's heart melts and she might as well be 18 again. She pushes past the crowds ("Naruto, if you want to start an argument, would you please tell Shikamaru's ANBU to get out of the military's HQ before I have them drafted into it?") and meets Itachi halfway in the middle of the room. They smile, take each other's hands and look into each other's eyes.

For once, none of the brightest minds in their generation have anything to say. The room is shockingly silent and Hinata's eyes linger on the band around Itachi's finger.

"I... It's…" Hinata blushes. Why is she here again? Her heart thuds painfully and she's honestly such a schoolgirl. Why does Itachi want to marry her again? She so immature and useless, she never holds her cool like all the other politicians and she's sure she's only the Defence Advisor because her family's always been entrenched in the military and Neji is the Foreign Affairs Advisor. But Itachi just smiles at her.

"Let's go," he says. "We can go to the café behind the library."

Hinata sends him such a relieved smile that she thinks her face might break, and her heart aches at the fact that the little secluded café is where they had their first date, their first kiss, their first laugh, their first cry. "Okay," Hinata says and they head to the door.

"Wait!" Konan calls, flapping a sheet of paper at Itachi. "You haven't resigned yet!"

"And I know it seems like we don't ever do anything, but you do have work, you two," someone says reproachfully.

"We're taking our lunch break," Itachi says seriously despite the fact that it's not even 10 in the morning yet. He pulls Hinata close, grabs his coat hanging from his door and drapes it around Hinata carefully. "The country will not fall in one hour without us."

There're complaints of it will the crowd follows them through the corridors, down the stairs and escalators and out into the courtyard in front of the offices.

In the end, all the leading members of either party take a lunch break barely half an hour into the time the Political Court's offices even open. They bother Hinata and Itachi all the way to the café until Shisui and Neji exchange looks and create such an impressive distraction that Itachi and Hinata are able to elude their pesky colleagues and crash their way into a warm bakery.

The shop assistants and customers stare at their breathless state, their red faces from the outside cold and the fact that Itachi's only wearing a suit and that Hinata's wearing Itachi's coat. The coy looks and whispers start, but Hinata and Itachi only have eyes for each other.

It's like that for the rest of their lives, really. The theatrics continue throughout their engagement and elections, through their ridiculously expensive wedding with so many media present that they don't bother to hire photographers, and even when Hinata and Itachi travel around the world in a caravan for a trip that's supposed to only include the two of them.

But it's okay. The country doesn't fall when Naruto maybe-mock-proposals a law that disallows anyone from the Uchiha Clan to marry anyone from the Hyuga Clan, the business world only blinks when the Uchiha and Hyuga disastrously battle it out to create the wedding of the century and the media doesn't shy away from Hanabi and Sasuke's lawsuit against them for breaches of privacy.

Decades later, Hinata and Itachi will send each other looks as they remember the hectic days that were their younger days. They'll sit back and think that yes, the Byakugan and Sharingan are the undisputed manipulators of the country's economy, but their bright little café tucked neatly away behind the library will always hold a special place in Konoha's heart. It'll be the place where the real Political Court of the country lies; the place where Hokage Naruto Uzumaki and opposition's Leader Sasuke Uchiha will stage and argue arguments after arguments until Neji Hyuga and Shisui Uchiha kick the two out before physical damage is done with the delicate words that the rest of the politicians of their generation seem to lack.

Hinata and Itachi will watch it all with fond smiles on their faces, thinking back to the times when they both dreamed of arguing for peace and back when they were young and thought that they could change the world like Naruto and Sasuke have. The Uchiha couple never will, they know this now, but their dreams that had lain dashed and broken on the cold ice were picked up and reconstructed on that snowy day when Itachi Uchiha refused to kneel for anyone and Hinata Hyuga didn't care.


	2. Blankets

He proposes in an Akimichi restaurant where they're serenaded by violins, surrounded by cooing couples and bathed in moonlight.

Toneri carefully puts the silver diamond ring onto Hinata's finger. The answer Hinata would give was never uncertain yet his normally steady hands are trembling and he's just as terrified as Hinata is. But they're young. It doesn't matter what the future holds for them; they have a lifetime to face it together, for better and for worse.

He stands up, brushes the pants of his suit, then catches Hinata's lips with his own.

"I'll love you," he tells her seriously after their chase kiss and the clapping of the audience. For once, Hinata's not paying attention to what the world thinks of her and she smiles back, eyes only on the boy, the _man_ she's known since childhood.

"Then I'll love you too."

* * *

><p>Hinata's alone in a taxi when it happens. She's on the phone with her friends, telling them about the proposal they all knew was coming. She doesn't see blaring lights, doesn't hear any loud honking or the taxi driver's cursing.<p>

Hinata doesn't really remember the car accident.

She doesn't really remember anything. At all.

* * *

><p>She wakes up to fluorescent lights and bone-white walls. She's lying on a soft bed, unfamiliar and probing tubes and needles sticking into her from all angles.<p>

The doctors and nurses swarm over her within seconds. They coddle her, they use a remote control to help her sit up, gently coax the tube out of her throat when they're satisfied after a few questions about how she's feeling.

They begin monologues and lectures on brains and electric impulses and spinal cords and things that simply go over her head. She nods on cue, smiles when the nurses look at her sceptically and tries to pretend she knows what they're talking about even when half the interns present are as confused as she is.

"Basically," the head doctor concludes magnanimously as she shrinks away from him, "if I asked you your name, you couldn't tell me."

She blinks. Then again. Her thoughts are blank, don't offer up the one piece of information that she should, if anything, know. "Oh," she says, voice hoarse from weeks of disuse, if the nurses are to be believed.

"Don't worry, we'll put your picture up in the newspapers and your family will be sure to collect you," the doctor continues. "It's a pity that you didn't have any ID with you during the crash."

"The... Crash?"

"Car crash. You were in a taxi that was hit by another car. The driver died," the doctor says. He looks down at her through his spectacles. "I'd expect you don't remember."

"Um… no?"

"Exactly," the doctor says, supremely smug while giving her some kind of intimidating look. She shrinks into her bed and one of the interns, maybe a younger doctor puts a hand on her shoulder. It's comforting and warm and she shoots her a sort of grateful glance as the head doctor finishes waxing lyrical about how _brilliant_ he is and leaves with his entourage, telling the younger doctor to stay with her.

"I'm sorry," the younger doctor says, who has been thus far referred to as 'you, girl'. "He's quite up himself. But he's actually a brilliant surgeon. He fixed you up."

"Oh," she says.

"I'm Sakura, Sakura Haruno," the doctor says with a cheerful smile. "I'll be taking care of you for the rest of your stay here."

Sakura helps her take out the rest of the tubes and needles that are left in her; Sakura says that she doesn't really need them. She helps her walk around the ward and the girl can tell that Sakura is surprised by how agile and strong she still is.

"You were out for so long," Sakura tells her. "We had to do some skin grafting and stuff. You are really lucky, they were only burns and a bit of head damage, no broken bones or anything, but I'm really surprised that you're this healthy, that your cognitive abilities and reactions weren't impaired at all. It's almost like you weren't in an accident."

"Besides the memory loss," she says, giving Sakura a side smile. Sakura smiles back; she's a lovely person, she thinks. She's very kind to her, obeying her every whim before she's figured them out herself. Sakura brings in her own clothes for her to wear so that she doesn't have to wear the hospital gowns and brings her pictures of the outside world. Sakura protects her from the crowds of curious doctors and interns too with a fiery glare and sharp words that makes her want to curl up and hope that she's got family out there who are as kind to her as Sakura is.

Only that, of course, they haven't come for her.

"Your crash was on the news," Sakura says, tapping her chin worriedly. "And then when you woke up, your face was on the news again and newspapers and everything. They'll definitely come soon."

She forces a smile and slumps beside Sakura. "Yes."

"The hospital wants you out, though," Sakura continues and the girl freezes with the realisation she's going to be homeless very, very soon. "So I thought that maybe you'd like to flat with me?"

The girl gapes and looks at Sakura in astonishment. "But… but you don't even know me!"

But there's something knowing in Sakura's eyes that makes her want to melt and let Sakura take care of her forever. "I know you enough to know that you're a lovely, good person, and that's enough for me," Sakura says, beaming. "What do you say? It'll be fun! My flatmate just left a few months ago to get married, so there's definitely space for you. My only concern would be my working hours; I'm really only ever home to sleep."

"T-That's…" she's torn over whether to protest that she couldn't possibly take advantage of Sakura like this, or to assure Sakura that she'll be fine on her own. "That's all right, Sakura. You've already done more than enough for me, I couldn't make you d-"

"That's great!" Sakura grins, taking her hand before she can say that she's fine with going to a homeless shelter. "I'll sign you out myself when my shift's over! We'll have to go shopping after this, if you're up for it. After that we can go out for dinner, Kami knows that _I'd_ be sick of the food here if I were you."

"B-"

"You're right, you _do_ need a name," Sakura says and the girl stares at Sakura in astonishment. Since when was Sakura this selective and forceful? "Any ideas?"

"N-No, not really?"

"Hmm…" Sakura says, pulling back to look at her. "You're really optimistic and bright, you know, for what's happened to you," Sakura says and the girl thinks, _no, you're the bright and optimistic one_. "And you've bounced back so quickly that it's nothing short of a miracle. I bet if you'd woken up in a normal house, you wouldn't have guessed that you were injured."

"R-Really?" she asks, not quite sure where Sakura is going with this.

"You're too brilliant," Sakura says with that warming teasing voice of hers. "You're too pretty, always happy and lovely no matter what. I think I'll call you Hanako."

Hanako frowns, tilts her head then smiles. "Hanako," she says, testing the syllables out on her tongue. They flow off so easily that she's almost sure that that's what she must have been called when she had her memories. But Hanako thinks that there's something _wrong_ with the name, something that makes her squirm and brings tears to her eyes. "I like it."

"I'm glad you do," Sakura says, beaming so widely that Hanako tries to match it. Her lips stretch across her face and suddenly the two of them are laughing and the other patients and nurses are rolling their eyes, aware that the hospital is really just a 24-hour day care centre for Hanako, a place where she's laughing and playing on the hospital's old Xbox 180 with Sakura more often than not.

"You have it so easy," one of the doctors whine when he checks Hanako over before she's released. There's really no point in any of this; Hanako could have walked out of the hospital the moment her eyes opened. "You might as well not be doing any work."

Sakura just laughs teasingly and takes Hanako's hand to lead her out of the hospital and into the afternoon sun. She drags her to a shopping mall and down the high streets of Konoha, pulling and pushing clothes at Hanako and making her try them on. By the time dinner comes, they've bought an alarming amount of clothes and shoes that come with a sky-high bill. When Hanako points that out to Sakura as they drive to Sakura's apartment, she laughs it off.

"I'm too rich, Hana," Sakura grins. "I'm working more than I'm not. It's nice to have someone to spend it on, to spoil, and it's nothing you wouldn't do for me."

Sakura's apartment is in one of those classy areas that makes Hanako's eyes widen. The older female just laughs and gestures for Hanako to go into the elegant, modern flat. It's beautiful in its own way, Hanako thinks, but terrifyingly impersonal and unlived in. But there are strange touches of warmth that seem out of place; a painting of a sun in the living room and a collection of pressed flowers and photo albums. Sakura directs her to her new room.

"The bed and stuff is ready already," Sakura says and flushes a little. "Ino sometimes comes here when she quarrels with Sai. They've not been married long but they're as dramatic as ever."

"Th-"

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Ino's fine with you staying here, it's not like this is really Ino's room anymore."

"B-"

"If Ino comes back, I'll just kick her out," Sakura shrugs. Hanako stares; Sakura's becoming something of a psychic. "She shouldn't have married Sai if she's going to argue with him every other day."

Ino comes up a lot in Hanako and Sakura's often one sided conversations. Hanako understands that Ino's Sakura's best friend; they attended everything from nursery to university together, even taking medicine together until Ino decided to go for neurosurgery and Sakura went for a less intensive specialist role. Ino was, once, the best neurosurgeon in the country after her father, but she'd quit her job some time ago to become a florist instead.

"She sometimes comes in to help out," Sakura says when Hanako stares at Sakura in horror. Ino studied _neurosurgery_ only to become a florist?! Not only that; Ino had even _finished_ the entire course successfully. What was the point of all those years of study if Ino's just selling flowers now? "She's also into the really science-y ground-breaking research so she's helping cure dementia part-time. That's how she met Sai."

"But... Isn't Sai an artist?" Hanako blinks.

"He is," Sakura says so seriously as she dishes up the instant ramen that Hanako drops the subject.

"My friends want to meet you," Sakura says. "They're really curious about you. I've spent more time with you in the past few weeks than I have with all of them put together. They're probably wondering which pretty girl caught my attention."

Hanako chokes and hopes that Sakura is joking because, _I don't swing that way, sorry Sakura_, and is maybe slightly glad that while she's recovering from the hot noodles nearly sliding down the wrong pipe she doesn't have to panic about the fact that Sakura wants to meet her friends. Her _family_, as Sakura once called them.

Hanako doesn't deal well with strangers. She's not sure if it's because she doesn't have an assurance of a lifetime of memories or if she's always been like this. Sakura's the only person to invade through Hanako's defences, and she's the only person that Hanako can trust, especially when she can't trust herself to make the right decisions. Sakura's been there for her as long as she can remember, and even if that isn't actually that long, Hanako wants Sakura to trust and genuinely like her as much as Hanako does her. Accidentally offending Sakura's family is a sure-fire way of failing that.

"You don't have to meet them now," Sakura says. "And not all at once. I'm just worried that you'll get lonely, Hana, and I want some people to be there to look after you just in case something goes wrong."

Hanako nods and takes a bite of noodles so that she doesn't have to answer. She's never said no to Sakura before. She doesn't intend to start now.

* * *

><p>Ino Yamanaka is as vivacious and as much of a diva as Hanako imagined her to be. She's bubblier than Sakura, even bright if possible and her smile as blindingly brilliant. She takes Hanako under her wing when Sakura's gone, showing her the flowers in her shop and teaching Hanako how to make floral arrangements and work the till. Her mouth works faster than the rate of money that the popular florist makes and by the end of the first day with her, Hanako thinks that she knows Ino's entire life story and exactly why Sai is a useless couch potato.<p>

Sasuke Uchiha is much, much darker. He sends Hanako odd looks and grim faced scowls when he babysits her in Sakura's apartment. Sakura says he's her boyfriend of five years, but Hanako can't fathom out how on earth the cheerful Sakura could fall for someone so brooding and depressing. But she tries her best to be friendly since Sakura really does love him and ends up cooking for Sasuke and staring at him throughout lunch. She looks past the mask that he presents to Hanako and the world, looks past the glittering glares and perpetual frown. At the end of it when Sasuke raises an eyebrow at her, Hanako tells him that he's softer than he looks. Sasuke sends her such a horrified gape that Hanako giggles and thinks that she knows why Sakura loves him so much.

Hanako meets Shikamaru and Temari Nara at the same time. They've been together forever, Sakura tells her, and quarrel more than Sai and Ino. But their quarrels aren't over huge things like Ino and Sai's. They're over petty little things from the non-existent scratch on the car to the exact colour of Sakura's walls. They take her out to a café, quarrelling all the way, and Temari angrily orders lunch for all of them.

"Two green teas, a black coffee with no sugar, one seafood chowder, one chocolate muffin and a cinnamon bun," Temari snaps. Hanako blinks.

"I think Hanako can order for herself," Shikamaru says when the waitress is gone. Temari positively glowers.

"Hanako likes cinnamon buns, _right_?"

"Yes," Hanako squeaks. Shikamaru looks faintly worried for a split second, then shrugs and mutters a _troublesome_.

Naruto Uzumaki argues with Sasuke as explosively as Shikamaru argues with Temari, but Sakura insists that she, Sasuke and Naruto grew up together, and talks so often about Naruto that Hinata thinks she knows him before she's even met him. Where Sakura is bright, Sasuke is dark and Naruto seems to be the glue that holds them together. Naruto brings Hanako to his favourite places around the city and chatters brightly _with _Hanako. Where Ino had talked _at_ her, where Sasuke had only strangely accurate insults at the tip of his tongue and Temari and Shikamaru just argued, Naruto chats with Hanako. He asks her of her opinions, lets her choose where they go and never once brings up the fact that Hanako doesn't have her memories and is just a pity case of Sakura's.

By the end of the end with Naruto, Hanako thinks she's in love. But when she goes back to Sakura's apartment, she sits by the windows and stares at the moon pensively.

* * *

><p>She meets Neji Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka in the New Year party that Sakura throws at her apartment. They take a look at her, have a double take when Sakura introduces her and seem to blanch.<p>

"_Hanako_," Neji Hyuga says silkily, disturbing white eyes flickering between Sakura and Hanako. "Is that your name?"

"Y-Yes," Hanako says. She's terrified, really, of the three intimidating men who look ready to murder someone. "I-I, I mean, I-"

"I named her," Sakura says defiantly. "_Problem_, Neji?"

"_Kami_, Sakura, is this some kind of a joke?!" Kiba explodes and Hanako takes a step back, behind Sakura. "I-"

Ino and Sai then appear and they drag the snarling three men away and out of the apartment, citing that they need to talk to them. They don't come back. Sakura sends Hanako an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," Sakura says. "Neji's cousin died a few months ago and those three were really close to her. They're all a bit volatile at the moment."

"O-Oh," Hanako says, still half hiding behind Sakura. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Sakura says. She sends Hanako an odd look. "I think Hinata's happier now than when she was alive."

* * *

><p>Hanako understands that something is very, very wrong when Neji, Kiba and Shino appear the next day while she's alone in the apartment and call her Hinata.<p>

They show her a photo of Hinata Hyuga. She and Hanako have the same high cheekbones and pale skin, but Hanako has straight black hair and brown eyes with pupils as opposed to Hinata's long indigo hair and freakish white, pupiless eyes. When Hanako points that out, Neji Hyuga looks so betrayed that Hanako falters and says that his cousin was very pretty. Neji looks slightly vindicated.

They tell her Ino Yamanaka is a neurosurgeon who has been specialising in memories and amnesia for years now, that Sai has always been known to dabble in the less than legal things. Hanako tells them that she knows that, that Ino's going to cure dementia.

They tell her that Sakura's no doctor, that no hospital would assign a _doctor_ to a patient for round the clock observation when Hinata, _Hanako_ was clearly perfectly fine, that no one could go through a car accident where the car supposedly burst into flames and killed the taxi driver and come out as unscathed as Hanako. That no self respecting hospital would put so many tubes into Hinata, _sorry_, Hanako only to pull them out when her eyes opened without a few days observation.

The doctor that Hanako had first met, they claim, was an actor. They pull out profiles, poke at the medical procedures that Hanako underwent at the hospital and tell her that everything's just _wrong_. And they're right.

"Are you a doctor?" Hanako asks. She's starting to panic at the sheer determination and conviction in each of the three men's eyes and she wishes that she'd never opened the door. But Sakura's going to be back in less than an hour to take care of this mess and if the men are so convinced that Hanako's a girl that they all loved, surely they wouldn't do anything to her. Right?

"No," Neji Hyuga says. He's clearly frustrated, and he's struggling to keep his voice gentle and calm. "But my family, _our _family owns the local hospital and there is no record of you ever being there."

"But I'm nameless," Hanako says. "They wouldn't have had any name for me."

Kiba rolls his eyes. "They'd still have had to record you down as Hanako or whatever."

"There is no record of the car crash either," Neji says, continuing his tirade. "There has not been any news of a taxi crash, no news of anyone who has lost their memories, nothing."

Hanako falters at this. Sakura has promised her since she woke up that she was doing everything that she could to contact her family. But she still trusts Sakura more than these insane strangers. Sakura has protected her for so long from so many things, and Hanako's nothing but grateful to her. "You're lying," Hanako tells them.

"I can show you every news clip and newspaper in the past year," Neji counters. "My family owns the media here."

Hanako's eyes narrow. "Your family seems to own _everything_."

Kiba laughs at this and even Neji looks amused. "The Hyuga name is very powerful," Neji says. "Powerful and old. Our company is called the Byakugan, which you're the heiress of."

"No," Hanako says firmly. She stands up and looks clearly at all three men. "Hinata Hyuga _was_. She's dead and you have to accept that."

"B-"

"Even if I _was_ Hinata Hyuga," Hanako says, "I'm not now and never will be. I'm Hanako now, and I'm happy as I am. If you really loved Hinata and if you really think I'm her, then for _Hinata_, please leave me alone. Please don't come back."

"You know we're right!" Shino Aburame snaps. "You _know it_. And you won't accept it because you're too kind hearted for your own good and you think you owe something to Sakura. You won't accept it because you've never had the bravery to stop accepting things you do not deserve and to vie for what you do."

* * *

><p>Hanako all but throws the three men out before Sakura returns. She does it with a strength and fury that she never knew she possessed, does it with the certainty that they would never hurt her.<p>

In the calm after the storm, Hanako's hands shake and she considers the picture of Hinata Hyuga that was left behind on the coffee table. A series of numbers is written carefully at the back, the name _Hanabi_ written underneath. Hanako tries the name, saying it three times in the silence.

She'd always thought that Hanako sounded wrong.

* * *

><p>"My name's Hanako," Hanako says. Hanabi Hyuga nods, half distracted by the phone in her hands and takes a sip of coffee. She makes a face and looks ready to call a waitress over to berate her. "I understand that your sister disappeared five months ago."<p>

And suddenly she's got Hanabi's full attention. The younger woman's white eyes are sharp and intrusive and they cut through Hanako's soul. "And?"

"I was told that all the police and private detectives refused to help," Hanako says.

"They were bought off by the Uchiha," Hanabi snaps. "What of it?"

"I'm new here," Hanako says. "The Uchiha don't know me. Tell me who Hinata Hyuga is and I'll find her for you."

Hanabi's eyes bore into Hanako's. "So she's alive?"

"Tell me about Hinata and we'll see."

* * *

><p>Hanako leaves Hanabi in the café with a spinning head and calculating thoughts. She walks straight into Naruto Uzumaki whose eyes widen.<p>

"H-_Hi_, Hanako," Naruto says, clearly surprised. Hanako can't help the shy blush.

"Hi, Naruto," she says.

"What are you doing?" he asks, looking around. "Are you out with someone?"

"I thought I'd take a walk," Hanako says. She'd slipped past Shikamaru when he'd fallen asleep, perhaps because of the thick chamomile tea she'd served him. She'd felt bad for a few seconds, but Shikamaru's the most likely to fall asleep and Sakura's always got someone watching her. There was a time when Hanako had thought it meant that Sakura worried for her so much, but Hanako's wondering if there's a slightly more sinister twist, if Sakura's motives aren't so pure. "What about you?"

"I'm actually on my way home," Naruto says. "Do ya want to come? We can have dinner together or something. I mean, if you want, it's not a date or anything _unless you want it to be_, bu-"

_Hinata really loved this boy, said he was all rainbows and sunshine. His name was Naruto Uzumaki but apparently it didn't work out or something. No one knows why. She said that she ended it, but I think my sister loved him too much to have ever done that to him_.

"I'd love to," Hanako says.

* * *

><p>"Who's this?"<p>

"That's Hinata," Naruto says, barely glancing at the silver frame on top of the bookshelf in his living room. He bites his lip. "She… she's Neji's cousin."

"Oh," Hanako says, carefully putting the frame down. "I've never met her, but, um, Neji said something about her."

"Yeah," Naruto says, grin suddenly strained. "She disappeared a few months ago. Everyone really loved her, even Sakura, so I thought she'd have told you about her."

"Sakura?"

"Yeah," Naruto says, cocking his head. "Hinata flatted with Sakura and Ino until she disappeared. They were best friends, the three of them. They'd have done anything for each other. Sakura really took it hard when Hinata disappeared. I'm really grateful to you for helping her through it."

_Best friends?_

"O-Oh," Hanako says. "Um, n-no, it's no problem. Sakura's lovely."

Naruto looks ready to say something, then shakes his head. "Hinata was too. She was going to get married, ya know. That's why everyone was so confused when she disappeared."

Hanako frowns. Hanabi didn't mention any engagements, only unrequited crushes and heartbreaks. "She was?"

"Yeah. She disappeared the night Toneri proposed to her," Naruto explains. "Toneri's… this guy, I guess. They'd known each other since forever and they were always going to get married. She said… they really loved each other."

"Well," Hanako says slowly, mind whirring, "from what Neji told me about Hinata, I think she really loved you."

* * *

><p>She calls Hanabi that night, voice low and quiet so that Sakura doesn't hear. Toneri Ōtsutsuki was betrothed to Hinata Hyuga the moment Hinata was born and pronounced to be a female. It had been a match made in heaven and everyone, apart from the two to be married, had been pleased for one reason or another.<p>

"Clan politics," Hanabi says dismissively. "You don't need to know. Anyway, the arranged marriage to be fell through when the Ōtsutsuki were murdered. A plane crash. But Hinata and Toneri found each other later and fell in love or something. It was just after Hinata broke up with Naruto and Toneri had broken up with some other girl."

"I don't think the arranged marriage fell through," Hanako tells Hanabi. "And I don't think Toneri and Hinata fell in love either."

"What, you're saying Ōtsutsuki did away with my sister?" Hanabi asks, voice sharp. "Think carefully about that, Hanako. Toneri loved my sister, romantically or not, and he almost razed the city down when he learnt Hinata disappeared."

"Not him," Hanako says. She sighs. "Hinata really did love Naruto, and Sakura's really good friends with Naruto, and Hinata, Ino and Sakura were best friends."

"_What_?"

"Do you know who Ino Yamanaka is?" Hanako asks. "She specialises in memory and amnesia. I'm told she's going to cure dementia. I don't think she is."

"Are you sa-"

"Sakura really cares about Naruto. He's her brother. Hinata was also Sakura's best friend, wasn't she?" Hanako points out. "She wanted them to be happy and so she must have stolen Hinata away. They flatted together, right? It would have been easy. Ino did the rest for her; changed Hinata's memories. They all knew that Hinata would spiral back to Naruto, even if she lost her memories. Hinata loved Naruto too much, didn't she? Everyone kept on telling me that; that Hinata Hyuga loved Naruto Uzumaki, that it's the one true fact of life. And Naruto loves Hinata too. Even if he doesn't know she's Hinata, he'll still love her."

Hanabi's silent for a moment. "So if I want to find Hinata, I have to find a girl that's dating Naruto?"

"I suppose."

"Will she look like Hinata?"

"They wouldn't be careless, Hinata's features are too distinctive," Hanako says. "I talked to Sasuke; Sakura's no doctor. She's a chemist. She can change eye colours, hair colours, skin colours and so much more with a few chemicals."

"How do you know that Sasuke's not lying?" Hanabi demands, but there's a desperation in the young girl's voice that tells Hanako that Hanabi's sold on the idea. She _wants_ it to be true. Even though Hanako knows by now that she was born Hinata Hyuga, she can't help but feel jealous of Hinata. Hinata's loved so, so much. Hanako is just… _Hanako_. Sakura's little guinea pig. She'll never be the Hinata that Hanabi and Neji know and love. She'll only disappoint them.

"As I understand it," Hanako says, "Hinata was part of the group of people that saved Sasuke from the Uchiha. He owes Hinata a debt and he repaid it to me."

"I thought Sasuke was the one who ordered the ban of searching for Hinata."

"That was his uncle," Hanako says. "And that was just to aggravate you. Madara Uchiha told me that if the Hyuga really wanted to find Hinata, you'd have asked the Aburame and Inuzuka for help."

Hanabi laughs, sharp and bitter. "We asked them for help. Kiba and Shino refused. They're the heirs of the Aburame and Inuzuka. Once they refused, their families wouldn't help out either. Apparently Hinata is definitely dead."

"When did they tell you this?" Hanako asks.

"A few weeks ago, sometime around new year's," Hanabi says. "Why?"

Hanako just smiles, gently and softly. "Nothing."

* * *

><p>Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka are arrested the next day by the Hyuga military. Apparently no evidence is needed because no trial will take place. Neji was right when he said that the Hyuga name was powerful.<p>

Hanako's allowed to talk to them in the cells and the reason they give her for stealing Hinata away is the same reason that their friends like Shikamaru and Temari give her for not telling her the truth when they'd figured it out.

"We wanted you to have your happy ending," Temari says. Her blue eyes soften. "You were never good at fighting for what you wanted. You'd have been trapped in a marriage with Toneri, a marriage where neither you or Toneri would have been happy in. But when you were with Naruto, you were so, so happy. We wanted you to be happy again. Even if this way broke a few hearts, at least you and Naruto would have been happy."

"No," Hanako says. Temari draws back, blinking. "Sakura and Ino took Hinata away and left me behind. I don't remember who Naruto is, who Naruto was to Hinata. I don't have those memories where Hinata first met Naruto, where Hinata was saved by Naruto and thought that she could love him forever. I'm just _me_. I'll remember him as the man that Sakura took my life away for and while I _like_ him, I'll never be able to love him. And I don't think he'll ever love me, not when he loves Hinata as much as he thought he should have."

All her friends look at her, hurt. They've just seen two of their friends taken away and now have heard that everything Sakura and Ino had done was all for nothing, that Hinata Hyuga doesn't love Naruto Uzumaki. But, Hanako thinks, it hurts so much because it's true.

Hanako is led to understand that most people in her situation would move away from everything and everyone that was part of their past lives. But Hanako likes the few friends that she's made and goes to stay with the Hyuga in the clan lands. She talks with Hanabi and Neji and meets Hinata's old caretakers and childhood playmates. She falls in love with Akamaru and gives Toneri her blessing when he introduces her to his girlfriend. It's ironic that this is the life that Hinata Hyuga ran away from, once upon a time, but Hanako finds that now that the expectations and responsibilities of being Hyuga heiress are on Hanabi, it's far less terrifying than Hinata had found it to be.

As time passes, Hanako finds marked differences between Hinata and Hanako. Hanako never grew up in a stilted society with judging condescendment. She's told she's far more confident and brazen than Hinata, and far less innocent and trusting of the world. No one feels the need to coddle and protect Hanako like they did with Hinata mainly because Hanako doesn't need to be. She likes the feeling of being loved when Neji and Hanabi speak up for her during clan meetings, but Hanako can protect herself, and frankly, no one wants a repeat of the disaster that happened the last time Hinata's friends tried to protect her.

"You loved Hinata too much," Hanako tells Sakura. "And so you tried to do everything for her. Maybe Hinata was weak, maybe she _did_ need to be cocooned and kept away from everything wrong with the world. But Sakura, if you'd kept on sheltering Hinata, she'd only have been hurt even more when she was allowed to grow up. Hinata had made her decision when she broke up with Naruto and she didn't need you to change it for her. She wasn't a child, Sakura. She knew what she was doing and she needed to face the consequences herself. "

"I just wanted you and Naruto to be happy," Sakura says brokenly. Hanako's heart clenches because in the end, Sakura is still the first friend Hanako made, still the person who risked everything to save Hinata from a loveless marriage.

"Hinata was already happy," Hanako says. "Maybe she didn't end up with Naruto, but she was still happy and she would have been even if she'd married Toneri. Naruto wasn't the only person she loved."

"Are you happy now?" Sakura asks with a small voice. There's a hopeful gleam in her eyes, as though everything would be justified if Hanako is happy.

"Yes," Hanako says. She smiles at Sakura. "I'm happy now."

* * *

><p>"Toneri proposed just now," Hinata says. She's in a taxi, on the way back home. She'll see Sakura in less than ten minutes, but there's something so <em>wrong<em> with everything and she wants to hear Sakura's soothing voice. "I… I said yes, but I don't know what to do."

"Oh, _Hinata_," Sakura sighs into the phone. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's just…" Hinata bites her lip and knows she's close to tears. Her voice is terrifyingly high and hysterical and the taxi driver is shooting her concerned glances through the mirror. "I'd hoped that we could figure it out before the deadline and I always knew it was coming, but I-I… _Naruto_… I'm not sure if I can do this anymore, I'm not sure if I can make Toneri love me when he loves Hitomi so, so much and I love Naruto more than anything, and _Sakura_, what should I do?"

"Shhh," Sakura says. "Don't fret about it. Where are you? Are you on your way home?"

"I'm in a taxi," Hinata says.

"Okay," Sakura says. "Ino's coming over right now."

"But I don't want to bother her!" Hinata wails. "She'll b-"

"Don't be silly, it won't bother her. She wants to come," Sakura tells Hinata, and something in Hinata thinks that with friends like these, friends who have always been by her side, she'll get through this. "Don't worry, Hinata. We'll make it right again."

* * *

><p>Inspired, a little, by a collection of sci-fi movies that almost always seem to have a startling amount of romance included whenever someone loses their memory.<p> 


End file.
